I began to explore the city on the second day and the cheapest way to do that is by taking bus no. 11 (walking). Armed with a photocopied map from the guest house, I walked for 5 hours and visited 3 main attractions of the city; Wat Si Saket, Patuxai and Pha That Luang.

Am I in Paris?

A brief introduction of Wat Si Saket. Entrance fee is 5,000 kips.

One of the many statues of Buddha in the temple.

More statues.

Wat Si Saket; the oldest temple in Vientiane.

View of Wat Si Saket from outside.

I had my breakfast near Talat Sao market before continue my journey to Patuxai.

My sinfully delicious breakfast; sandwich made of Baguette with pork, ham and meat floss.

Patuxai or Victory Monument is Vientiane’s version of Arc de Triomphe. It is also known as the vertical runway because it was built with cement donated by the USA for the construction of a new airport.

Carvings on Patuxai’s ceiling depicting Hindu mythology.

Stairway leading to the top of Patuxai.

View of Vientiane from the top of Patuxai

View of Vientiane from the other side of Patuxai

This beautiful golden stupa is call Pha That Luang.

Admiring the golden stupa.

Compound surrounding the golden stupa

Unknown monument nearby Pha That Luang

My last meal in Laos before flying back to Malaysia.

This post ends my 2 weeks backpacking adventure across Indochina. Thank you for following this little adventure of mine. Bigger adventure is coming soon. Stay tune!

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“…fit vang vieng into ur route, u have to do the tubing, it’s fun. ”, that is what she said to me.

So here I am, doing the tubing on the second day…

After paying 55,000 kips + 60,000 kips deposit, numbers are written on our hand so that we can get back our deposit later. Dry bag is available for rental as well.

Tuk tuk would drive us up river to the starting point.

The starting point

Tubing alone would not be as fun if you do not try this. There are plenty of makeshift swings, diving platforms, slide and what not put up by the riverside bar owners to attract tourists to stop by at their bars. It was a sinful mini water theme park indeed.

See the video to see how fun it was.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Slowly drift down the river under the sun with icy cold Beerlao in one hand, clumsily maneuver the tube with the other hand and Green Day blasting in the background makes a perfect place to chill out with friends.

Jumping into the river Jesus style from a diving platform.

Chill out in one of the bar

Stopping at another bar.

Enjoying another cold beer with my tubing mate, Danny.

Big water slide.

Enjoying another round of Beerlao in a hut on top of the river.

By 5pm, most part of the river was in the shadow of nearby limestone hill. Even though I was not under the hot sun anymore, the water actually become colder.

I was tempted to stop at this last bar but I had to skip it because it was getting late. Anyone who return the tube after 6pm has to pay extra 20,000 kips.

Came across a group local taking bath in the river.

Finally reached the end point. By the time I was there, I was feeling tipsy from all the beers I had. Even though the guide says it takes only 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete the journey, I took more than 5 hours and 30 minutes. Yes, I was late and I had to pay the extra 20,000 kips.

Here are some images of the town…

The beautiful Vang Vieng town.

The sunset view.

The town.

There are more Caucasians than locals in Vang Vieng.

One thing that I cannot understand in Vang Vieng is why every cafe is playing Friends sitcom. When I asked some of the travelers, none of them are craving for it. To escape from “Friends” infested cafe, I had my meal from roadside stalls such as…

Banana pancake. Almost similar to our roti canai.

Pork porridge

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So I have arrived at Luang Prabang alive. But the problem right now is how the hell am I going to find a place to sleep at 4am? Practically the whole town was sleeping. Together with Antoine, Pierre, Remi and Guillaume, we lunged our backpacks that feel heavier than usual into every corners along the dimly lit empty streets and then knocking on every doors that looks like a guest house only to be ignored or greeted with the standard excuse, “we are full”. Dogs were barking at our presence, breaking the silence of the night. I do feel guilty for every doors I knocked. As the clock ticks away, we were getting wearied and desperate. We even tried one of the many temples in town and to our amusement, we received the same standard excuse, “we are full” from the temple’s caretaker. WTF? How can a temple be full?

We almost gave up until we came to Merry Guest House 2. After a few knocks on the door, we were greeted by the owner. Instead of giving us the same standard excuse, he told us we can check-in in the morning but we were allowed to spend the remaining few hours on the floor of the living room free of charge. We accepted his offer immediately without any hesitation. His mother was kind enough to provide a sleeping mat and a blanket for each of us. We stayed in the guest house until we left Luang Prabang. It only cost me 64,000 kips or RM27.

The reason I made Luang Prabang one of my check point is because it is an UNESCO World Heritage City. Other UNESCO World Heritage sites I have visited are…

• Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca
• Kinabalu Park
• Halong Bay
• Historic Centre of Macao
• Angkor

The town was small enough to walk around. However I was too lazy to walk, so I rented a bicycle at 20,000 kip (RM8.50) a day. These are the photos I took on the first day.

My brunch

Street in Luang Prabang

My rented bicycle

Banana fritters

Choose your flavor of tuk tuk

Wat Ho Prabang, located in the Royal Palace Museum’s compound

Staircase going up pussy Phu Si hill. Entrance fee is 20,000 kips.

Over looking Luang Prabang town and Mekong River on top of Phu Si.

View of the town from the other side.

Chatting with Su In and Hwang Ju from Korea while waiting for the sunset on top of Phu Si.

Sunset…

Tourists taking photo of the sunset on Phu Si.

Hmong Night Market. You can find Lao textiles, handicrafts, jewelery, traditional medicine and other souvenirs there.

Stove for our barbecue dinner

Barbecue dinner, Lao style.

From left: Me, Guillaume, Pierre, Remi and Antoine.

Beerlao. National pride of Laos. You can see them everywhere in Laos.

On the second day, we visited Pak Ou cave and Kuang Si waterfall. Since they are located quite far from town, we had to rent a van to bring us there. Each of us paid 120,000 kips (RM51) for the one day tour. Our first destination was Pak Ou cave.

View of Pak Ou cave from across the river.

Cute little girl

Have to cross to Mekong river by boat to reach the cave

Cam whoring on the boat

Pak Ou cave. Entrance fee is 20,000 kips.

Go to the cave early so that you won’t have to cramp with hordes of tourists that arrive later by boat.

The cave is stuff with all kinds of Buddha’s statues and images

Termite infested carving. Anyone?

Antoine doing his stuff in the background

More statues

Checking out the upper cave. That is right, Pak Ou has two caves. One lower cave and one upper cave.

At upper cave

There are plenty of souvenirs you can buy on the way up such as…

Key chains

Bananas

Some ugly, furry things

Poor little birds

We have to paddle our way back to the shore because the boat’s engine died half way across Mekong river

Motifs on pillar of a temple

Young monk in the village

Along the way, we stopped at one of the village to sample Lao Lao (Lao Whiskey). Shown here are wines with “special” ingredients in it.

More wine with special ingredients. Please note that it is not for decoration. It is for consumption.

Satay Lao style. Taste awful.

One of the stall selling Lao Lao.

Our last destination was Tat Kuang Si or Kuang Si waterfall which is 32km away from town. The entrance fee was 20,000 kips. It was the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. It features a wide, multi-tiered waterfall tumbling over limestone formations into a series of cool, turquoise-green pools. See it yourself…

A perfect combination; turquoise-green pool with bikini clad women.

Look at the color of the water. Don’t you feel like swimming in it?

Am I in heaven?

We celebrated our last night in Luang Prabang with cocktails before we part ways on the next morning. Thank you guys. Luang Prabang wouldn’t be as fun if without you guys. As a token of appreciation, here is a little promo for you guys…

Guillaume, Antoine, Pierre and Remi are 4 friends from France who decided to embark on 7 months expedition across the world. They have visited South America, India, Nepal, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and South East Asia. In fact, they are still on the road now. You can follow their wacky adventure in their blog; Tour du Monde. However, the blog is written in French.

Next stop: Vang Vieng…

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After relaxing in Pai, I decided it’s time to continue my journey to Laos. To cross over to Laos from Thailand, first I have to go to Chiang Khong. The only option I have in Pai was by minibus (it looked like a van to me). The ticket price was 750 Baht and it includes a bed to sleep in a dormitory in Chiang Khong. The journey took 6 hours. When I arrived at Chiang Khong, it was already 3 or 4 am. Thank goodness I have a place to sleep in the town because the I could hardly sleep along the journey thanks to the winding road and super cold air-cond. I woke up at the break of dawn and took a short cold shower before being transported to the border checkpoint beside Mekong River.

The place I slept in Chiang Khong.

Going to the border check point on a pickup truck

Buddhist monks

As a Malaysian, I don’t have to apply for Laos visa at the border. Not only it saves me some money, I can skip the long queue at the immigration counter. Once done with all the immigration formalities, I walked toward the bank of Mekong River where hordes of boats already waiting to ferry tourists across the river to Laos.

Queuing for visa. Malaysian don’t have to do visa and I was the only Malaysian at the moment. I felt so privileged. Muahahaha…

Boat to cross Mekong River

Mekong River…

Crossing Mekong River with Antoine, Pierre, Remi and Guillaume

I landed on Huay Xai town in Laos after a short boat ride. Most tourists continued their journey to Luang Prabang by slow boat along Mekong River. Some went for the speed boat, while a few including me opted for local bus. The reason I chose the local bus was because I heard a lot of unfavorable experiences on slow boat from other travelers I met along the way. Most complained about the long journey. It takes 2 days! Speed boat is totally out of questions unless you do not mind become deaf for few hours or end up dead.

Even though the choice was obvious, I did not know what to expect from the bus ride. All I know was the journey would take 14 hours. When I arrived at the bus terminal, I had the feeling that it’s not going to be comfortable. Stood in the middle of the red barren land was a worn down concrete building which turned out to be the bus terminal. Only a couple of bus parked in the compound. The next available bus to Luang Prabang was on 12.30pm. Since I arrived too early, I had to wait in the bus station for at least 2 or 3 hours. When I laid my eyes on the bus that I was going to take, my jaw dropped wide open. The dirt covered bus could be older than me and literally, it carried a whole house on the roof. There were 2 cupboards and 3 queen size mattresses along with other boxes.

Lunch time

My first meal in Laos.

Cow boy town? Around the bus station in Huay Xai

The bus. Notice the cupboards and mattresses on the roof.

I was lucky enough to get a seat. Those who came late had to sit on a plastic chairs that were put up ad hoc along the aisle. The plastic chairs have to share the aisle with bags of rice and other “cargo”. Another thing I have to put up with for 14 hours was limited leg space. It was really cramped and uncomfortable. I imagined it was worse for those Caucasians with longer legs. Some local passengers brought along chickens with them. I could hear clucking sound of a chicken occasionally especially when the bus breaks abruptly.

In the bus

The plastic chairs for latecomers.

Really cramp seat

The journey itself was a torture. Most part of the road was unpaved and winding up and down many hills. If you have week stomach, then take this trip and you will end up with a strong stomach. I was numbed to the winding and bumpy road after awhile. Because the road was unpaved and we couldn’t shut the bus windows, we all have to eat dust whenever there was a big truck or bus in front of us. The only comfort I had during the journey was when the bus stopped for ‘toilet’ break. Everyone got down from the bus and did their ‘business’ at the road side or at dried up padi field. The journey got worse when night falls (around 7pm). The road was dark and the temperature dropped sharply. I had to coil in my seat to keep myself warm because the wind breaker did little help. After a while, I got numbed. I couldn’t see anything from the window except for some camp fires along the road made by the hill tribes and stars in the sky. I kept looking at my phone (I don’t wear watch) hoping the time would past quickly. It doesn’t. It moved even slower.

Toilet break

More toilet breaks

The only comfort throughout the journey

Guillaume and Pierre paying a visit to the “house” on the roof.

A photo before continue the torturing

At the end of the journey everybody including myself was extremely delighted that we had finally reach our destination alive. Despite all the torture I had to endure, another fellow traveler told me it is still better than the slow boat.

Now I have another thing to worry. How do I find a place to sleep at 4am? More on this later.

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At first, I am a bit worried about traveling by myself. That’s right, I never travel by myself before. I guess the only worry I had was being alone. Who like to have fun all by himself? Happiness is only true when shared. My worry seemed to be gone after Justin; one of my campus’ buddy decided to join in my trip. However, my joy was short-lived after he let go the biggest aeroplane ever. He fell sick few weeks before the trip and was advised by doctor not to travel for few months especially to those 3rd world countries. So it was back to square one. After much hesitation, I proceeded with the trip by myself anyway. After all, everything has been prepared. It couldn’t be that bad, right? As I found out along the journey, traveling alone is actually fun! Even though I went there alone, I was never alone on my journey. I was accompanied by fellow travelers from all over the world and most of them are very fun to travel with. I was happy to see there were many travelers who traveled by themselves just like me. We helped each other out, shared our expenses, exchanged our travel experiences and most importantly kept each other accompanied. I got a lot of useful tips for my next destination from those who has been there. They were like my living guide book. It pays to be friendly. At times when I was alone, I found solitude in it. As we headed for Bangkok from Siem Reap, Lenny from UK once told me, loneliness is just a phase.

Charles and friends from USA

Exploring Angkor Wat together with Masaki from Japan

With Tookie who was kind enough to be my personal guide in Bangkok.

Pedi and friend from Germany

Conny, my bunk mate from Holland

My travel mates in North Thailand; Annie and Monica from China

My travel mates in Luang Prabang; Clockwise from left: Guillaume, Pierre, Remi and Antoine

Su In and Hyo Ju From South Korea

Danny my tubing mate from USA

Since 2 weeks is a very short time, I should be careful on my travel plan. Since I am not very good in planning, I just let it flow according to circumstances. My ‘brilliant’ plan was; fly to Angkor Wat, visit north Thailand and reach Vientiane before 5th February. In fact, I was prepared to loose my flight tickets if I stayed longer than expected. After all, the flight ticket from Vientiane back to KL is only USD40 and from KL back to Penang is less than RM30. However, I am glad that everything went smoothly according to my lousy plan. En route to Vientiane from Siem Reap, I have stopped at Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. The total distance I covered on land was more than 2,000 km.

Here was my travel itinerary.

Day 1 – Day 3 : Discover Angkor Wat
Day 3 – Day 4 : Transit in Bangkok
Day 4 – Day 5 : Overnight train to Chiang Mai
Day 5 – Day 6 : CNY celebration in Chiang Mai
Day 6 – Day 8 : Relaxing in Pai
Day 8 – Day 10 : The long journey to Luang Prabang
Day 10 – Day 12 : Luang Prabang, the UNESCO World Heritage City
Day 12 – Day 14 : Chill out in Vang Vieng
Day 14 – Day 16 : Vientiane, French city in Asia?

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Wat Arun, Bangkok

Night market in Chiang Mai

Pai

Kuang Si waterfall in Luang Prabang

Tubing down Nam Song river in Vang Vieng

Patuxai, Vientiane

One of the biggest blunder I made on the journey was traveling without my credit cards’ PIN number. That means, I cannot withdraw cash out from ATM machine. I know I still can use my credit card to buy stuffs, but on a shoestring trip, cash is everything. I ate at roadside stalls (aka pasar malam style), I slept in guest houses (not more than RM20 a night) and I traveled by local buses, train and boat (sampan). They only accept cash. All I had was RM2,000 cash in various currencies and I was lucky not to spend more than that. It was amazing because I never planned in detail how much my expenses would be before I left Malaysia. It was like I picked the number out of the air. It would be very inconvenient if any emergency occurred or I embarked on a shopping spree (I was tempted once).

To save money, these are the types of food that I ate. No pizza, KFC, McD, chicken chop or steak.

Chicken noodle soup

Bee hoon type dish with fresh vegetables

Grill sausages

Grill seafoods

Road side food stall in Chiang Mai

Fresh fruit juice

Porridge with ‘yau char kuai’ in Vientiane

Noodle salad in Vientiane

Sticky rice in bamboo leaves in Vientiane

Banana pancake (roti canai Lao style)

Baguette sandwich in most part of Laos

Laos satay

Yummy dessert almost similar to Penang’s bubur cha cha

Rice soup (porridge)

Putu mayam?

Mix rice in Siem Reap

Banana fritters in Luang Prabang

Koay teow soup?

I came across many hardcore travelers along the way (no, they were not porn stars). They traveled for many many many months. For them, 2 weeks is a short vacation. I even met 2 Belgians who cycled for two weeks months from Singapore to Vientiane. Most of them are Ang Moh who haven’t started working or just resigned from their job. As much as I wish I to follow their footstep, I know I have commitments I cannot ignore. For me, it wasn’t all play but rather a mixture of play and work. It may sound dull to work on a holiday, but that’s the only way I can travel for long period of time and still maintain my career. My biggest concern was how to provide the same level of support to my customers while I was away. My customer’s satisfaction has always been my top priority. Without them, this trip would not be possible. Even though I have delegated some of the job to my people, most of my customers still prefer to deal directly with me.

Working while having lunch in a Wifi cafe in Vientiane

Even though it was not a problem to get connected to Internet at all the places I went, I needed to be reachable by phone as well. Unlike Internet, receiving phone calls while I’m overseas are ridiculously expensive. Roaming charges on Maxis line alone will make me cry. I’m talking about thousands of ringgit on my phone bill. I don’t mind that if I am running a multi million corporation. After I studied all the available options, the cheapest and most reliable method to receive phone calls is to use a combination of Skype and a local mobile phone number. Luckily, getting a prepaid SIM pack from Cambodia, Thailand and Laos was hassle free and cheap. The SIM pack I got in Cambodia was Cellcard ($10 USD), in Thailand was Happy (50 Baht) and in Laos was ETL (35,000 kips). All of them have excellent coverage except at certain rural part in Laos. Despite all the preparations, it wasn’t without any glitches. There were times like I couldn’t receive any calls because I was traveling in a non coverage area or during transition at the borders. I admit, working while traveling is not as easy as I hoped for especially when I tried to cover so many places is such as a short time. This journey has provided a great experience that I can use to improve on my future travels.

The prepaid SIM cards I had. Happy, CellCard and ETL

I consider myself lucky because I did not suffer any illness or injury during the trip, never missed any flights or buses, never run out of cash, managed to visit every places I wanted to visit, met a lot friendly travelers, did not get conned or cheated, was not attacked or robbed and none of my stuffs were stolen. However, I wouldn’t call the trip an adventure if it was without any challenges. Some of the challenges I had were supporting my customer while I was climbing up the gigantic stairs of Angkor Wat, eating food that make me wish I won’t get diarrhea, sleeping in a room with strangers that performed 6 hours of nasal symphony (snoring), lugging 20kg of backpack for an hour looking for a place to sleep at 3am, traveling in a cramped local bus full of bags of rice and chickens for 14 hours on an unpaved (bumpy and dusty) and winding road or spending few hours in police station to pay my traffic fine. Nonetheless, it was fun. I seriously encourage everyone to try it at least once while they are still young and energetic. After all, life is an adventure. Like Remi from France said, “tough experience makes the most memorable experience”.

Unlike packaged tour, backpacking is different because it was not everything about the places. It was the experiences and challenges that make the journey meaningful. Will I do it again? Hell, yeah!

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If you happen to be in Cambodia, Thailand or Laos during 21st January until 5th February, drop me an email and you are in for a treat. Please include the date, the location and a little bit of introduction about yourself such as name, nationality, age, gender and contact number.

Hope to see you guys there!

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